ADHD and autism are different, but on social media those differences are shrinking
A study of Reddit communities has found that the terms ADHD and autism have taken on a similar meaning and the communities are merging
Published 22 May 2025
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism are in the news as never before.
Media attention is at an all-time high, demand for diagnostic assessments has risen substantially, and clinical services are experiencing unprecedented pressure.
What’s behind the rise in these two conditions?
One possibility is that rates of ADHD and autism are genuinely rising. Another is that growing awareness has led more people to recognise them in themselves and their loved ones.
Another major factor is changes to diagnostic criteria.
The latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) extended the diagnosis of ADHD from children to adolescents and adults and combined several previously distinct disorders into the umbrella diagnosis of ‘autism spectrum disorder’.
In a particularly important change, the DSM-5 allowed ADHD and autism to be diagnosed together. Previously, the two conditions were considered mutually exclusive.
This update raised awareness of their overlap and made dual diagnosis not just possible but common.
In parallel with these changes, there has been a shift in how the two conditions are understood by many people, inspired by the neurodiversity movement.
Neurodiversity promotes the idea that conditions such as these are natural variations in the brain rather than deficits that need to be corrected.
Neurodiversity advocates have drawn attention to co-occurring ADHD and autism and coined the term ‘AuDHD’ to describe the unique experiences and challenges of having both.
Neurodivergent communities have also proposed new features of these conditions, such as ‘rejection sensitivity dysphoria’, that are not captured by official diagnostic criteria.
These developments have potential benefits as well as risks.
They may foster greater self-understanding and validation for those whose experiences may have felt previously overlooked. However, if diagnostic categories become conflated or expand their meanings, people may misidentify their problems and pursue unnecessary or ineffective treatments.
The convergence of ADHD and autism
In our new study, we explored whether and how ADHD and autism have become more closely connected in our culture, and why this convergence may be occurring.
We used computational techniques to analyse more than 478,000 posts from the largest ADHD- and autism-related communities or ‘subreddits’ on the social media platform Reddit, spanning a period of ten years.
We looked for evidence that the two conditions were converging in four ways.
First, we tracked changes in the frequency with which the term ADHD appeared in autism community posts and vice versa. As we expected, each community increasingly referred to the other condition over the course of the decade.
Second, we tracked changes in the number of people who belonged to both communities. Over time, the membership of the two communities became more overlapping.
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Third, we examined how the meaning of ‘autism’ and ‘ADHD’ changed, using a natural language processing technique that analyses the contexts in which a word is used.
We found that ADHD and autism were increasingly used in similar semantic contexts on Reddit, suggesting they were becoming more similar in meaning.
Finally, we examined how the themes of subreddit discussions of autism and ADHD changed over time.
We found they increasingly address the same topics. These emerging shared topics include challenges involving diagnostic assessment, the lifelong rather than childhood-specific nature of the two conditions, and their social and emotional aspects.
Taken together, our findings show that autism and ADHD have converged in social media discourse. This illustrates a broader cultural shift toward understanding them as interconnected and overlapping conditions.
Broader Implications
Our findings contribute to a wider conversation about how rising public interest in mental health is impacting the way we use and understand diagnostic language.
Previous work has shown that concepts such as ‘anxiety’, ‘depression’, ‘trauma’, ‘mental health’ and ‘mental illness’ have shifted their meaning over time as they have received increased cultural attention.
Many of these terms have broadened their meanings so that they now refer to a much wider range of phenomena than before.
Our new work is the first to show computationally that the relationships among diagnostic concepts – such as their similarity or overlap – are also changing.
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As these concepts continue to be stretched and reshaped on social media, it is important to consider the possible impacts.
The growing perception of an affinity or overlap between ADHD and autism may be fostering a sense of self-understanding and community among many people.
However, it could also foster unwarranted dual diagnosis, blur important distinctions between the two conditions, and place further strain on assessment and clinical services.
With public interest in mental health continuing to rise, understanding these dynamics is becoming increasingly important for practitioners, researchers and society at large.